“Michael gives us another young, gifted left-handed shooting defenseman with significant offensive upside,” Preds GM David Poile said in a statement. “We look forward to his presence on our already talented young blue line, further balancing our defensive corps.”

The move marks an end to Del Zotto’s stay in head coach Alain Vingeault’s doghouse. Since taking over from John Tortorella as Rangers’ bench boss, Vigneault has been highly critical of Del Zotto (see here and here), banishing him to the press box as a healthy scratch on a few occasions.

Del Zotto has enjoyed tremendous success in the past, though, scoring a career-high 41 points in 77 games during the 2011-12 campaign. Despite his defensive shortcomings, he is a talented offensive weapon on the blueline.

The 23-year-old, a former first-round pick, is in the last of a two-year, $5.1 million deal. He’s a RFA at season’s end.

Klein, 29, isn’t as well-known as Del Zotto but has emerged as a quality blueliner for the Preds in recent years. He signed a five-year, $14.5 million deal just prior to the lockout — carrying an affordable $2.9 million cap hit — but has struggled offensively this season, with just three points through 47 games.

In 2011-12, Klein set a career-high by scoring 21 points in just 66 games played, and had four points in 10 playoff appearances. He has been struggling with a foot injury this year, which is believed to have hampered his play.

This is a strange deal. BOTH teams would’ve been fine giving those players away for nothing. The rangers basically gave a younger irrelevant player for an older irrelevant player. Its a lose lose. Nobody won anything. Nobody lost anything, except possibly NY because MDZ is 6 years younger.

It was essentially a swap of struggling players (although Klein’s been decent despite his point totals). I’m sure NY realized they weren’t going to get a top-6 forward, so they basically swapped a potential top-4 D man (Del Zotto) to the Preds for a…potential top-4 D man. Just a shakeup, really, but this could be good for the Rags, I think Klein’s pretty good. And Del Zotto will help the Preds score, they can sacrifice giving up a few goals if MDZ can pot some of his own.

You should be happy you were able to get that for MDZ with the way he’s played this season…Sather was never going to get a top-6 forward or top-4 d-man. Klein may not have as much POTENTIAL as Del Zotto, but as of now they’re basically players of equal calibre. And Klein is and probably always will be more defensively responsible.

Here’s his THN profile and scouting report, in case you were curious:

Assets: Blocks shots with aplomb and can play a shutdown role, if needed. Is mobile and can move the puck up ice. Is also a solid contributor on special teams. Owns a good-sized frame.
Flaws: Doesn’t use his size with enough consistency, so as to gain an advantage against NHL forwards. Is inconsistent in terms of point production and offensive impact on a game, as well.
Career Potential: Solid, versatile but inconsistent defenseman.

They were both set to become free agents before the ’07 draft. Nashville didn’t have the dough as Craig Leipold was busy doing a deal to sell the team to Jim Basille (a deal which of course fell through for infamous reasons). So, Poile was forced to flip them for picks. His hands were tied but he flipped them to the worst team in the other conference. He did what he could.

have any of you people commenting seen MDZ’s play in the past few years? he has become an absolute train wreck. even if he does well in nashville, he wouldnt have been as successful here. i can count how many games he has cost the rangers this season. One as recent as last week when he was napping off a faceoff that led to a TB breakaway which ended up being the game winner. He has been horrid since the ECF a few yrs ago where tortorella cut his mins. he’s a turnover machine, gets bumped off the puck an can’t score anymore. other than that, he’s been tremendous here. They needed a steady dman. they also shed some cap space this yr, so, if they move a guy or two, they have addtl money to spend. Rangers tried getting methot a few mos back straight up and ott laughed in their faces. When the NYR played them last sat i even thought they were ballsy to ask him. I dont get the comments saying they were looking for a top flight player. they knew damn well they wouldnt be getting one. he was booed everytime he was on the ice. even on plays that were painfully obvious he wasn’t at fault people blamed him. his time was done here. im more mad at the fact the NYR took mcilrath over fowler. it was right after del zotto’s rookie yr and the rangers felt they’d have too many offensive d-men. what a mistake!

Seriously. He is a space cadet. Lost out there. I’m fine with it. We could have gotten MORE, but I think we have enough offense. I just can’t stand watching him basically escort guys right into the crease for easy goals or rebound shots.

I don’t hate the move. Del Zotto was most likely going to want a raise this year, which Sather would have been criticized for, and Klein is signed for the next what, three and a half years? DZ’s stock isn’t quite as high around the league as people are interpreting it to be. Meanwhile, Klein has been a gritty D-man for Nashville, and that is exactly what the soft NYR blue line needs. Sounds like a bad deal for NY, but I really don’t think it is.

Okay, so the Rangers traded a struggling player who is about to be an RFA and based on reports of his sour relationship with AV was a goner, and they picked up a reasonably priced stay-at-home d-man who is under contract for a few seasons.

I can’t find too much fault with this. It’s just like the Mets and Ike Davis. Everybody knew that they were trying to move this guy. This was the best player that they could get. The Rangers have enough puck moving d-men, so a stay at home guy would probably be a good fit.

Rangers could have probably gotten more but right now Klein is the much better player, he’s a solid, responsible gritty dman while Del Zotto is a defensive liability that has merely shown glimpses of good to great offensive ability that have yet to come to fruition or at least at any consistency whatsoever

rpiotr01 - Jan 22, 2014 at 3:08 PM

Del Zotto is an offensive defenseman (read: not great at playing defense) who hasn’t been providing much offense in the past couple seasons. Rangers fans forget how young he is, and that the position can often take time to develop, but I think the way they’re built right now GS/AV would prefer to take on a guy who can log minutes and play solid D over dealing with MDZ’s growing pains for another couple years. He’s simply had too many give aways, too many soft plays at his own blue line, and far too few points scored.

Sather’s track record in free agent signings is horrendous, and his track record drafting impact players is hit-and-miss at best, but the trades he has made with the Rangers have usually been good.

stakex - Jan 22, 2014 at 3:13 PM

While I know I’m in the minority, I have been one of the Rangers fans really hoping Del Zotto wasn’t traded, and I think this will turn into another Sather bomb over time. Has Del Zotto struggled this year? Sure… but so have a lot of the Rangers, and like many of them DZ has looked better of late. For some reason however, AV singled DZ out despite he was far from the only Ranger failing to live up to expectations early on.

Over the last two seasons Del Zotto has shown he has the ability to be one of the top offensive defensemen in the league. He’s not the best defensemen, and neither was Brian Leech, but like Leech DZ’s offensive ability more than offsets his defensive shortcomings. Not to mention he’s still quite young, at only 23… meaning his best years are likely still to come. I understand that he needed a new contract at the end of the season, and that the Rangers might not have been able to keep him, but they really should have tried.

Klein isn’t a terrible player, but he has little future upside. Its likely his play will only be going downhill as time goes on, while the Rangers might have to sit back and watch Del Zotto turn into a star…. and Sather will have yet again traded away a talented young player before they have time to fully mature.

I know what you’re saying, but MDZ’s problems have been ongoing for a couple of seasons already. I don’t think the 27-31 peak that is typical for baseball is necessarily the same for hockey. Hockey players sometimes have their best years in their early 20’s and are already in decline by their mid-late 20’s. Maybe MDZ hasn’t peaked early. He might benefit from a change of scenery. If he gets his game together and fulfills his potential, then yeah, this is going to look like a bad trade, but it looks like it was never going to happen with the Rangers, so the best thing was to cut their losses and get something back.

the fact you mentioned leetch and MDZ in the same sentence means you know absolutely nothing. Leetch was actually excellent on D and for a guy his size he was great at the hip check on players coming into the zone. I have also never seen a dman break up as many two on ones as he did. You’re talking about an all time great.
Del zotto hasnt been bad of late? what rangers games have you been watching? like i said earlier, as early as last week he was responsible for the winning goal vs TB. Too many times he is out of position, turning it over at center ice, not picking up the right man in front. His downfall came in the ECF where he became God awful and a turnover machine. He isnt good on the PP anymore either, A PP ranked in the top ten. You are the same guy who said they are going to fire AV this yr. Del zotto has no shot at becoming a star, he is regressing. Any person who watches him night in and out can see this. His trade value is at an all time low, if fans know he is regressing and what him gone, what exec and gm would trade a lot for him that know more and see the same thing? What sather trades have been bombed by the way? hes pulled some good ones aside from mcdonagh. He got prust, avery, dumped gaborik for some good depth players.

Post lockout that play is probably an interference penalty for moving out of your lane to impede the progress of the forechecker, but man was it fun to watch back in the day.

I remember Brian Leetch. I watched him through nearly all of his career. MDZ is not and will never be compared to Brian Leetch.

stakex - Jan 22, 2014 at 4:58 PM

Learn to read man. Did I say Del Zotto was as good as Leetch? Nope… only that like Leetch, his offensive talent is his value. That is not a comparison of their ability, and if you had reading comprehension skills you might have understood that. Its also a well know fact that the majority of Leetch’s career he was a sub-par defensemen… something clouded by nostalgia and his start status.

Anyway, there is no doubt that DZ has had a bad year… but he’s only 23 years old. That’s the age most defensemen are only starting to reach the NHL. To give up on him for some spotty play, despite his offensive talent, is laughable. You watch… with the right coach and some more time he’s going to become a top NHL defensemen.

As for AV, there was a point where almost all Rangers fans were screaming for him to be fired…. and before the current hot streak they are on that was still the case. The Rangers very well may still miss the playoffs, and AV’s coaching ability is still in question. Don’t let one good 10 game run fool you into thinking this team is going to be a cup contender all the sudden. Especially considering AV has specialized in finding ways to lose in the playoffs over the years….

Personally, stakex, I have to disagree with mentioning DelZaster and Leetch in the same breath, there is just no comparison. Leetch had something from day one that DelZ never has- self-confidence in his abilities.
The loss last week to Tampa Bay was pinned dead on his shoulders when he allowed the player on the faceoff to skate right by him right after he saw it done one play earlier.
I personally wish him well, but I wish him well somewhere else.
And now, can we bring up the bonehead penalty by Kreider that cost them the game last night? I know the kid can score, but he has to learn the rest of the game!

joey4id - Jan 22, 2014 at 4:04 PM

Leetch certainly showed more potential from the moment he joined Rangers in 1988 and played very well for the 8 or years. After that it was mostly a struggle to play well. Maybe stakex is too young to remember how good Leetch was at the same age as MDZ.

stakex - Jan 22, 2014 at 4:46 PM

Nope, not too young at all to remember Leetch when he was at his best…. however I remember very clearly that Leetch wasn’t the worlds best defensemen. He had incredible offensive talent, had amazing play making, and was solid on defense…. but its nostalgic clouding to remember him as some sort of defensive stud. Not to mention by the middle of his career you would be hard press to even call his defensive talent average.

Now I wasn’t saying Del Zotto is as good as Leetch…. not even close. I was simply pointing out that like Leetch, his value isn’t his defensive ability… its his offensive ability from the blue line. That’s something few NHL defensemen have, and without Del Zotto the Rangers don’t have a true offensive threat from the blue line.

For this year, Klein will provide the stable bottom pair defensive partner for John Moore. However, I don’t see what there is to gain going into the future. DZ is still young and I believe can be successful in the right situation. Say, setting up Shea Weber on the Preds PP.

You mean like say, setting up all the rangers forwards who are better on o than the preds? The same del zotto who was on the point for the pp that ranked dead last or near dead last the past two yrs before they removed him and now top 5?
That del zotto

You have to figure that another team would have offered up more for MDZ.

Perhaps due to conference geography, I have no memory of ever seeing Klein play, nor of even hearing about him. However, I tend to find that defencemen that play regularly, but that you never hear of, are ones that do their job.

AV’s been unhappy with MDZ all year so this is no surprise . He’s played better the past few weeks , partly because his minutes have been cut , with J Moore picking up the slack. I was hoping for more in the trade , but when it’s out that your play is disappointing it’s hard to deal from strength. Hopefully Klein is good in his zone and can be paired with someone with some O like Stralman.

Sather is a complete dope, and I thought Esposito made some dumb trades…

nashernation - Jan 29, 2014 at 12:52 AM

There is a god! I’ve watched MDZ turn into a confused mistake prone mess the last few years. Klein is a solid right handed defenseman who isn’t a puss like MDZ. Great job getting rid of this disappointment.